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Adventure of Seas - Thanksgiving 11/21 Review


masonpips
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This was our 8th RCCL cruise and I literally pulled up our last trip on Adventure (in my signature) and updating that review to do this one since it’s virtually the same route.

 

Pre-cruise/Friday

We flew from TUL to DFW with no issues, meeting friends, who flew in from OKC to meet and cruise with us, at Pappasito’s for lunch and margaritas before boarding the long haul to SJU.

 

Dh and I had bulkhead on the long flight and I’m a horrifically nervous flyer so I took a pill and slept 80% of the flight. Excellent. Landed on time and grabbed our one checked bag and a taxi and head to Tres Palmas. This was a Hotwire win and fairly inexpensive (~100 for night versus ~200 at most hotels). I liked it, my family acted like it wasn’t that great. The room was small, but clean and the AC worked like a champ.

 

We walked over to Blu Burger where service was slow and mistakenly 2 of us got eggplant burgers (wasn’t bad) because we pointed to the sign. Our fault and served to keep us from starving all night.

 

Boarding Day

I woke up and hiked over to Walgreen’s for sunscreen and some random last-minute items. Breakfast was very light (I had a piece of toast) at the hotel and we grabbed a taxi (they called, came within 5 minutes). Arrived at port to get in the first “drop your bag, let’s bang on the tip jar” line, then into “wait for doors to open” line. I would say the doors opened about 11 and check-in was speedy and efficient (we’re Diamond and were directed accordingly). The seating area was just filling up so we grabbed seats near the garage door and hit the liquor sampling and duty free shop (grabbed one bottle of champage)

 

They opened the door and, as read here before, chaos - there is no real boarding process so just get in line. We skipped the photo and headed up the escalator. We divided into two lines (mid and front ship) and then stood there for 5-7 minutes. It looks like our lady scanning sea pass cards was new and/or having issues. There were 2 crew members coming on so they had to show passports? No real worries, we were STEPS away.

 

I posted a pic as we boarded and it says 10:00 a.m. (12 noon there) so boarding was pretty much at noon sharp! We checked our dining room table and tried to get 2 added to our group of 9. My dh had called, gotten them “linked” but our friends had to call and “confirm”. She did that and they had no record of my dh asking for it. He called back and RECONFIRMED. Guess what? We’re not together. So aggravating to make the calls and NOT have it together.

 

They indicated it probably wouldn’t happen the first night, but they’d work on it. Ok.

 

We went to Windjammer for lunch and it was typically/good. I will say the salad bar all week was really good! We wandered the ship and waited for the rooms to be open which was at 2 pm. We had 7388/7688 (corner afts) and kids in 7387/7687 (inside). We switched 4 people around (my dh/SIL and my DS and niece) and had no issues making the switches. Niece didn’t have her card assigned to her parents which caused them issues leaving the ship the last day so that was a little odd but our group was fine.

 

We had our luggage within minutes it seemed and were unpacked w/a stack of stuff for pressing and ready to vacation. So? We napped! Everyone was exhausted from traveling and the weather was kind of iffy. This was the one and only time it rained all week, which we didn’t know until we woke up and saw everything was wet!

 

Muster drill was painless and we had late dinner so we took showers and DH/I hit the Diamond Lounge. We didn’t spend a lot of time in there as the 3 free drink vouchers on our card were just as attractive and we had family/friends with us.

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Crew

Kenyon (sp?) was our room attendant. He was cheerful and did all we asked (which was basically ice). We didn’t get robes and I wanted one, but I never thought to ask and it ended up being fine. The room was great (cold) and the balcony was fantastic! With so many ports, it wasn’t used as much as I would have liked, but WOW the space!

 

We got a call at some point and they added 2 seats to our table for dinner! It was a little stretched out (think kiddie table at the end) and dinner was slow for the most part (our waiters were Russell/Tex (Texroy, just call me Tex) and they had our table of 11, a table of 4 (set for 6) next to us and a table of 6-8 next to that. We acknowledged that we added people and were understanding of the slow pace. The one night we wanted out for Love & Marriage they hauled a$$ for us and did it. They both received extra tips and WOW cards – excellent job for the week!

 

The rest of the week, categorized (I lose the ability to remember much after several ports and drinks….)

 

Shows Went to Quest (~meh~) and Elton John tribute (LOVED it). Rest of group went to Love & Marriage and enjoyed

 

Trivia: had a blast. Won the first night and came in 2nd another night. We dragged all 11 down there and the kids were clueless on 70’s night but enjoyed it!

 

Food:

Dining room: ate there 5 nights – first 2 (prime rib was roasted sirloin? Mine was good), last 2 (Thanksgiving was turkey/formal and last night was lobster) plus another. The food was good to very good. The desserts were excellent (lol). The other 2 nights we hit the WJ and the Mongolian Grill was fun/good and the rest was pretty good. Desserts are way better in the MDR.

 

We had JR for lunch one day and the service/food was outstanding. Probably my best experience at JR ever. Wished I had gotten our lady’s name. She remembered 4 orders perfectly (and we have adds/minuses all the way around) and I loved her.

 

We did the MDR lunch on the last/sea day and the salad bar was fantastic. The main dish items pretty much were awful. The risotto seafood was bland and undercooked. The burgers looked worse than WJ. The desserts were good (note to self: salad/dessert is enough) and service was not good. DH and I ate at the Diamond ala carte breakfast one day and it was better than WJ, but really not necessary. We ate at WJ or had RS for other breakfasts.

 

Overall room service was very good. We had one order (on a port day at like 1 pm) that took 1 hour and 20 minutes, plus a call, and was wrong (no salad dressing, no fries, something else wrong, no sugar w/iced tea). Everything else was perfect and tasty (spinach dip and cheese trays were our favorite).

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Ports:

St. Croix – did a private snorkel w/Jolly Roger – outstanding. It was our group of 11 plus a family of 4. Highly recommend.

 

St. Kitts – we had done a private sail here before but couldn’t do w/our larger group so dh and I took a hike to the left of port, up to a rocky area and just wandered. HOT

 

St. Maarten – all 11 to Orient Beach. Guys/dads went jet-skiing. Had lunch at a restaurant. Always a fan favorite

 

Martinique – got off, searched for wifi (didn’t have ship map), it was HOT and dirty downtown and we weren’t impressed. Heard good reviews from people who took water taxi to beach. We were off ship maybe an hour and enjoyed quiet ship after

 

Barbados – one of our all time favorite ports. Private sail w/Shasa (our group of 11) and in everyone’s top 3 excursions. We did the 5 hour lunch trip (had done 3 hour trip a few years ago) and hit the sea turtle area and snorkeling, then grabbed food and went to a sandy beach area for lunch. The food was outstanding. HIGHLY recommend.

 

Sea Day – DD and I laid out in am (HOT) and everyone packed/worked out in pm. Used the gym 3 days – I wish RCCL would add a bigger free weight area – it’s TINY on all ships, but the rest of the equipment is good and it was fairly cool in there which is nice.

 

People:

There were 42 Quniceanera groups on board. They chose Wed as their “formal night” and dressed up. There were some larger groups that evening, doing photos and the like, but really it was fun to see them and they didn’t impact us.

 

I will say there were LOTS of large groups onboard (which is typical for Thanksgiving) and I am constantly amazed at people’s inability to realize you don’t walk 8 across on the Promenade (bad) and then JUST STOP AND STAND THERE (worse). Other than that and the typical general group of rude/clueless (both?) people, it was great.

 

Funny story – the group next to us at dinner included a VERY LOUDMOUTHED KNOW-IT-ALL. We felt so sorry for the people seated with him/his traveling companion. On the last night he got up to go to the restroom (his other person didn’t show up that night) and our group reached out to the two people seated there. They were a RIOT and the lady said “I was about to hang myself from the curtains”.

 

He came back, but left before we did so we then kind of linked up with them and talked the rest of the night. Wished we had reached out earlier. They were newer cruises on a back-to-back and didn’t know they could request to change. They avoided dinner a few times due to this guy.

Disembarking:

We chose self-disembark and went to the conference rooms on 2 at 6:45 a.m. We sat there for probably 25 minutes (where sat = stood as they crammed people in) and then were released room-by-room (2 down there) to Deck 1 to a ramp to leave. We walked into the terminal and got into the Customs line (3 agents, 1 was devoted to crew when they showed up). We were in the taxi line by 7:35. The airport is lacking real-restaurant wise (construction) so we grabbed breakfast at Margaritas and our plane left at 11:30ish. I was able to move DH and I to the 9:15 for February (returning and sailing on Celebrity Summit) given how we would have easily made that flight this time.

 

FYI: there were a TON of people with GIANT suitcases doing self-disembark. A TON of them. They either took the elevator (we took stairs as we were able to MANAGE our luggage as stated you should) or made several trips up/down stairs. Would be nice if RCCL would put them all together so they can delay each other, not the rest of us who follow the rules (my opinion, YMMV)

 

Overall Thoughts: Great cruise, great crew (super friendly and outgoing). Once I found Vladimir in the Sports Bar and realized he’d give me lemon drops for my Diamond drinks, I had a new home! The trip was relaxing and I didn’t miss the shows I didn’t see and didn’t participate in much all week – just what I planned/wanted!

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Did you say something about a Mongolian Grill? this is the first I've heard of that on Adventure. Well, I have 500 days to find out.

 

We did stay at Tre Palmas and it was clean and affordable, but underwhelming with very little nearby to walk to easily. (We have pizza delivered.) A few minor issues with the place, but as we both said, its clean and affordable.

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So the Mongolian Grill is just part of the buffet?? What did they serve?

Enjoyed your review. We are sailing next month!

 

They had beef or chicken and veggies - you could pick as much as you wanted and they stir-fried them up for you with a choice of 3 sauces - a teriyaki, a sweet/hot one (the one I had) and another (just spicy I think). They gave you a number and brought it to you. All 7 of us eating the first night had it and I think everyone went back and had it again the 2nd time!

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They had beef or chicken and veggies - you could pick as much as you wanted and they stir-fried them up for you with a choice of 3 sauces - a teriyaki, a sweet/hot one (the one I had) and another (just spicy I think). They gave you a number and brought it to you. All 7 of us eating the first night had it and I think everyone went back and had it again the 2nd time!

 

 

Thanks for the description. Sound delicious We'll have to try it next month!

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Did I read correctly that there is a duty free shop before boarding the ship? We are flying in the day of and it would be great to pick up a couple bottles of bubbly or wine before boarding!

Yes, duty free shop in the terminal building at the Pan American pier.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Could you tell me more about your Charter with Jolly Roger? How much time did you have at Turtle Beach? Was lunch/beverages included? Full or half day? Cost? Thanks, planning for my March cruise and St.Croix will be a new stop

for us 😄

 

I think it was $75/person and beverages (soda/water before snorkeling, rum punch added on way back) included. We took a taxi over and were at the dock early. They said there were no snacks, so we bought a bunch at a store right by the dock. The excursion was 11-3:30 and right on time

 

We stopped at the beach for 30-45 minutes and snorkeled for probably close to an hour. The rest was sailing to/from the island and back. We all really enjoyed the excursion. There were 11 of us and another family of 4 aboard. The captain and his wife are runners (as were a couple of our party) so we had a great time discussing races.

 

The other family brought their own beer (was hilarious) and shared with us. We had a great trip!

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  • 6 months later...

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